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Here’s the year round up as I saw, felt. There have been countless news that made headlines but I would shall recall only those which mattered to me or the ones I followed. So here I go in no such order of importance.

Slumdog Millionaire directed by Danny Boyle won 8 Oscars. Set and filmed in India, the film tells the story of a young man from the slums of Mumbai who appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Kaun Banega Crorepati in the Hindi version) and exceeds people’s expectations, thereby arousing the suspicions of the game show host and of law enforcement officials. The film won 93 more awards this year. Personally too I liked the movie but haven’t yet felt the urge to watch it again.

A R Rahman, the king of Indian music industry, the legend in making also won 2 Oscars for his music and song ‘Jai Ho’. Personally not my favourite, I love any and all other creations of his.

Barack Obama gets Nobel Peace Prize less than nine months into his eventful presidency, was an unexpected honor that elicited praise and puzzlement around the globe. Normally the prize has been presented, even controversially, for accomplishments. This prize, to a 48-year-old freshman president, for “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” Mahatma Gandhi spent his whole life serving for mankind, preaching non-violence and fought for our freedom, did not receive none.
Here want you to enjoy some tweets which ran on twitter just following the announcement:

In honor of President Obama, the “Nobel Peace Prize” to be renamed “Failed Olympic Bid Consolation Prize”

Why doesn’t everyone just STFU & let President Obama be great!

BREAKING NEWS! Obama cures ALL cancers by simply asking them to go away!

Swedish Psychics predict President Obama will eventually earn Nobel Peace Prize, so they award it to him early. Dalai Lama kicking his heels.

Dear President Obama, make sure you keep an eye out for Kanye when you are accepting your Nobel Peace Prize

Michael Jackson’s death was a global shock. On June 25, 2009, aged 50, Jackson collapsed at his rented apartment in Los Angeles. Attempts at resuscitating him by his personal physician were unsuccessful and within minutes he was pronounced death. His controversial life brought him miseries and bankruptcy towards the end, in loneliness he sort to drugs and got addicted to painkillers. For me, no musician is greater than him and I am proud to be born in the life and times of him. Yet to watch ‘This Is It’. Have to soon. Want to dedicate one my favourite song to all to end this year.

Roger Federer did it. First, he won the elusive French Open beating Robin Soderling and then got his 15th Grand Slam singles title by winning Wimbledon beating Andy Roddick making him the only male tennis player and ranked number one to achieve this glory. Besides he married his long time girlfriend Mirka and also became proud father of twin daughters. So a big congratulations to The Roger Federer..we pray for more and more Grand Slams titles to come your way.

Tiger woods. Towards the yearend no one could imagine that we would have to hear such a heart breaking news of one of the greatest sportsman ever, world No 1, most successful golfer of all time and not the least the highest paid professional. World came shattering when his wife Elin Nordegren found about his affair with a nightclub manager and the press hasn’t been sparing him eversince then resulting in opening of the pandora box with exposure of around 14 mistresses, losing almost all his sponsors, losing his flawless reputation, and now an impending divorce. I still salute his achievements as I never respected him in first place for his relationship with his wife and others but for his inimitable golfing talents.

Jade Goody: Yes I was following her news since she was in Celebrity Big Brother which made headlines she was evicted after being accused of racist bullying against Shilpa Shetty. Goody then as a mark of repentance or apology she entered the Indian version Bigg Boss in 2008 which is where, hell broke on her when her doctor unfolded the news of her cervical cancer and that she was to live only for few months. She died on the Mothers Day leaving her two sons behind. Shilpa kahin vish kanya to nahi..jo use haani pahunchaayega raakh ho jaega..lol Joke tha.

Violent attacks on Indian students in Australia: Was a bothering issue which came up this year where atleast 100 attacks were reported, no count on the ones which went unreported. The unrealistic figure certainly forces us to believe that there is a racial angle to all this. Or else, prove it. If not anything else, all this could have serious repercussions on the Australian education industry. Learn from France, they are encouraging more and more Indian students to come over.

26/11 first anniversary: Terror attacks on India. Mumbai was the target point just an year ago in 2008. Millions watch the carnage helplessly when serial bomb explosions rocked Mumbai. Explosions mainly carried out at Taj Mahal hotel, CST railway station, Nariman house, left hundreds dead and wounded. First anniversary ran us through the ill-fated day once again and we prayed for hope in peace. The only living suspect Kasab is still undergoing trial and to keep him alive till today took 34 crores have been spent. Dossiers exchanging is all that we saw.

Andhra Pradesh division. The demand for Telangana as a state has been since 1964 but it got aggressive when K Chandrasekhar Rao went on hunger strike and Congress decided to give in by showing green signal on the 11th day. This decision was immediately protested all over the country and many more such demands of Gorkhaland, Bundelkhand, Harit Pradesh and so on erupted only to force Govt to immediately take a step backwards and put the matter in a limbo. Such developments reinforces our deduction of such myopic leaders who think haughtily not anticipating the aftermath that could stir in breaking the whatever little solidarity which is remaining of India (if at all).

Swine flu, a pandemic with its global outbreak has claimed many lives and is still spreading over all and as per prediction it shall engulf almost one-thirds of the world by the coming year. Tommy Hass, Sreesanth, Narendra Modi being prominents to have got infected and cured. Remember to wash your hands profusely like a maniac.

Twitter and Facebook: This being the landmark year for social networking and micro blogging sites. Mind blowing success. We connected to long lost school friends and we keep a tab on our favourite celebrities’ day to day activities too, so simply. Love it. Shashi Tharoor ‘cattle class’ remarks on twitter created furore. Read here.

A whopping figure lingers on my head these days –Rs 126 crore. Amitabh Bachchan fetches that sum for hosting Bigg Boss Season 3. I still think it is a criminal amount to even offer or recieve.

Dr. Abdul Kalam Azad and Shah Rukh Khan detained at airport. Both were frisked as they are Muslims and similar names feature in the list of suspects? Huh!

10th board cancelled: Must have been a respite for all the students back home. Lucky you all. Kudos to Education Minister Kapil Sibbal.

As for music it was an year for Lady Gaga hands down.

Wanted and DevD are my favourite movies of this year. Loved Paa, Wake up Sid too. Jugaad too as was directed by my brother Anand Kumar.

Other prominents we lost: Amongst the ones we lost forever are Y S Rajasekhara Reddy Chief Minister of AP died in helicopter crash was the biggest shock followed by heart attacks and suicides all across the state. 500+ is the unbelievable figure of death toll, just as an assessment of his acclaim. We lost Maharani Gayatri Devi, Feroz Khan, Patrick Swayze, David Shephard too. World will miss you all.

As I said I have not covered many like Madhu Koda’s laundering money worth over Rs. 4000 crores, Rahul Gandhi’s rising popularity, Katrina Kaifs’ superstardom, PM Manmohan Singh’s second term, cricket, Rakhi Sawant and so on..so pls excuse :p

To sum up will jot a few of mine too. My biggest achievement of the year – gave birth to YASH. Quickly thereafter managed to shed 13 kgs..Yay..few more to go. Ayshani starts going to her play school. We managed to cross past last years’ turnover of our company. Got iphone as a Christmas gift :). Finally did something which was long pending – revived my blog, yes that’s where you are.

On that note let me wish you all a great year ahead. So everyone just rock it.

Michael Jackson, Silvio Berlusconi, Bill Clinton, David Beckham, Shane Warne, David Letterman, Hugh Grant, Woody Allen, George Michael and many more but adding to the list of philanderers is Tiger Woods. How much does it affect their larger than life public image and brings encumbrance in professional goings thereafter? Do you hold it against them for having shattered your trust which entailed unrelenting idol-worship in some?

Well..somewhat or not really. If their achievements are mammoth then such waverings can be ignored by the fans (Let their spouses deal with it). How many people can achieve that kind of fame? Music made MJ, his character did not, goes for all the achievers. If we love them for their works then why suddenly nullify everything and start judging them. I agree when we talk about them, we think about their follies too but at the same time have immense respect for their professional triumphs. – I know many might differ but that’s my viewpoint.

Why do so many of such rich, famous and powerful husbands cheat on their undeniably gorgeous wives? Or why do they indulge in transgressions when they have everything going right for them? (We will discuss some other time why actually ALL men want to deviate regardless of rich or famous.) Or at least seems so to the entire world that everything is right and they hold the most enviable situation. Aren’t they supposed to be godly, infallible, super-heroes who follow a strict chastity regime that prevents their public image from tarnishing?

When we get all that we wanted or even in excess, what else is there to life? How does one get that extra kick or adrenaline rush that can keep them going? Definitely rich and famous men have bigger egos and require higher levels of excitement. Extra-marital affair can satiate that vacuum (read sexual appetite). Accomplished men are more likely to fall prey to temptations as it must be scattered around in plenty through die-hard fans. They then grab at that attention when there is slightest of low moments with even the most gorgeous wife. According to study- Men who cheat on their wives – and at least 30 percent do, and they do so out of boredom.

Some might be perverts by nature, I feel that about Berlusconi. Shane Warne keeps repeating his romps, shows he doesn’t care about his image, Bill Clinton can be happy to have a wonderful forgiving wife, Michael Jackson lived towards his end as an alleged paedophile, but today he is a legend. When heard about Tiger Woods, I was a bit shaken by, but I have almost immediately forgotten about it. We humans have a short lived memory too when it comes to celebs, we forgive and forget pretty fast.

Such revelations only reaffirms that a human being is erroneous, imperfect. If ones achievements supersedes everything else and commands respect it cannot be at any cost be discredited.

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PS: Would like to share some interesting comments which I read on various websites after Woods gave his statement.

The scandal is all about Woods’ character (or lack thereof): This is about his inflated ego and extreme selfishness. He’s only sorry because he got caught. This is a man with everything but character.

Woods is the perfect poster child for “the me generation!”

Why is it all these transgressors are never “sorry” until they are caught in the act?

He’s not a god. He’s a golfer. Prone to the same flaws as anyone else. The fact that a golfer has been turned into some kind of world-wide icon says far more about us than about him. And, yes, he is a celebrity, and he’s taken advantage of that as fully as he could. But that still doesn’t mean he should be punished any more than he already will be for giving in to a temptation untold millions have before him.

This business with Tiger Woods and his family and the most despicable women on the earth is not really worth all of the ink and air time. Are we really that blood thirsty and excited about this failure? It is like Rome and the Coliseum with the lions and gore. I think I hear cheering.

Go Tiger! LIfe life to the fullest. But choose better next time. Any woman who would let our yur phone messages is not worthy of your time. Having your friends is not the problem; it is your judgment on who those friends should be. But you are 33 and you have years to grow Life is not a dress rehersal; it is the real thing and you don’t get a second chancd to live a creative life. Keep your focus in your game And apply that same judgment to your affilliative life. I’m in your coner. We are in a new era and you are living as you should.

Oh yeah real bad in bed SO bad you kept doing it for like 31 months?
The word of the day is TRAMP

We aren’t here to never make mistakes. We are here to learn from them.

Today everyone wants to look attractive or beautiful. What is the definition of beauty? Wikipedia – Humans who are relatively young, with smooth skin, well-proportioned bodies, and regular features, have traditionally been considered to be the most beautiful throughout history.

Solange Magnano, former Miss Argentina

To achieve this ‘ideal’ beauty, humans are going all out, to cosmetologists more than they visit barbers these days. Obsession with this idea is increasing more and more amongst rich, famous and the narcissists. And they all are. This can be fatal, firstly in the mind then to the body. Today we hear that former Miss Argentina Solange Magnano aged 38, died due to complications after surgery for buttock enhancement. (Read here)

Botox, liposuction, breast augmentation, body contouring, nose reshaping are amongst most sort after cosmetic surgeries. All these became popular just about couple of decades ago and today almost 5 in 10 in the showbiz go for it, mostly women. Not getting into why they deny it too when it is so obviously apparent in some or all. We saw Michael Jackson performing countless graftings not only body parts even the skin colour. Pamela Anderson,Victoria Beckham, Michael Douglas, Marilyn Monroe, our bollywood is no way far behind with Shilpa Shetty, Sherlyn Chopra, Priyanka Chopra, Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen, Esha Deol, Preity Zinta, not to forget Rakhi Sawant to name a few. I see these days almost all of these western socialites be in 20’s or 80’s have gone for some surgery or the other and i can honestly say that they look ugly, disproportionate and seemingly unnatural.

No, I am not entirely against cosmetic corrections, i only cannot understand the obsession for it. May be professionally they need to look ‘perfect’ for longer to stay in race, is antidote for their self-esteem and an extra boost of self-confidence. If it helps, good for them. Coming back to Solange Magnano, she didn’t need the surgery at all, she used to go to gym and worked out regularly. For her twin daughters, she must have been the most beautiful mother and the entire world.

On the other hand have we ever taken notice of those countless physically impaired in need of artificial limbs to merely be able to walk or hold, just to be able to experience this beautiful world in which they survive each day? What does beauty mean to them? I remember the story way back from my school text books – ‘In celebration of being alive’ by Dr Christiaan Barnard ( A blind boy and his friend who doesn’t have a leg are playing happily the push-cart game in a hospital dorm full of children. The blind boy is pushing the cart on which the disabled boy is seated and is steering it as well as guiding the blind boy.) Beauty to them is to make the most of the life with whatever God has given. Undoubtedly, to all the mothers their child is the most beautiful one.